If you decide to start poultry, it is very important when buying chicks to learn how to determine their sex. Separating males from females will result in quality poultry rearing. The development and growth of females will accelerate significantly if there are no males among them.
Definition by characteristics and color
Take the chicken in your hands and carefully examine, the color of the belly will determine if it is a rooster or a chicken. But a lot depends on the breed. If they are red, black, silver, or light brown, then gender can be easily identified. Males usually have two varieties of flowers on their belly and a speck on their head. Females have three colors on the abdomen that run all the way down the back.
Male Orpingtons or New Hampshire have white stripes on the wings, while females are separated by brown stripes on the back or black spots on the head. The gender of the Plymouthrocks is easy to identify. Males of this breed have yellow spots on their heads.
Consider feathers. Chickens fledge very quickly in the first week, while in males this process occurs much later. In the second month, you will notice sharp and long feathers. At the age of one and a half months, a comb appears in males, which turns red, in females, the comb remains pale. Focus on chick size. Males become larger than chickens after a couple of weeks. Males have angular heads, females rounder and smaller. The legs of the cockerels are longer, and processes can develop on them. Go into the chicken coop and sneeze, while the females will scatter, and the roosters will remain in place.
Lift the chicken by the scruff of the neck, the legs of the rooster will remain hanging straight, and the chicken will try to lift them, curl its fingers. You can lower the chicken upside down by holding the legs. The cockerel hangs calmly, the hen tries to raise its head.
Japanese gender determination method
If you cannot independently determine the sex of the chicks, then you can seek help from a specialist. To do this, he takes a chicken in his hand and opens the anus to consider the presence or absence of a lump. If there is a bump, then this is a rooster. The accuracy of this method is 90%.
If you are not able to hire a professional, then try to determine the sex of the chicks yourself. Take the chick in your left hand, its head should be located between the ring and middle fingers, and the legs between the little and ring fingers. Pull your tail up. Press gently with your left thumb on your lower abdomen to open the cloaca. Then press with your finger on the left edge of the cloaca, the inner constipation should turn towards the chicken's back. With the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, pinch the back edge of the cloaca, open it. If you saw a genital tubercle - in front of you is a cockerel.
